Motorola unveils Android Milestone XT 720 'powerhouse'

Shedding the keyboard, adding hi-def recording and output

The new Motorola Milestone XT720 has been announced, featuring a number of high end specs and a much slimmer design.

Using Android 2.1 and an ARM Cortex A8 processor, this is similar to the Motorola Milestone apart from it has no keyboard, a 10.9mm slim frame and an HDMI-out port to pump HD content to a larger TV.

In terms of camera specs, it has an 8MP camera with a Xenon flash and 720p video recording, and a large 3.7-inch WVGA screen to view media on.

There's an 8GB microSD card in the box, but you can also upgrade that up to 32GB if you're so inclined to fill your Motorola Milestone XT720 to the gills with media.

Sans Blur

There's no MotoBlur overlay, which Motorola says is because the device is "aimed at the power user, we made a decision to put MotoBlur on some very successful devices with MotoBlur 1.5, so we're targeting certain users [with the overlay]."

You may notice this phone seems to look a little familiar – this would be because it's essentially the Motorola Motoroi we brought you information on earlier this year at Mobile World Congress.

The usual range of Android upgrades are also present and correct, meaning you can get Exchange support and integrated social networking as well as WebKit supported browsing.

The UK release date has been set for later this month, although it will only be coming through channels such as Expansys and Play.com, with pre-order beginning on 11 June.

Motorola says this is because it 'allows it to get to the market faster' as the rapid development of Android devices (11 so far) means it's hard to synchronise with the network's 18-month release cycles - although we'd rather see this on the high street rather than being hidden on the net.